The 4th EAJS Japan Conference at Tohoku University gave us an opportunity to argue for understanding data collections as datascapes, meaning spaces that both describe domains (and as such, may shape their user’s perspective on a domain) and reflect the community that curates them (and as such, may speak to the relevances and practices in the community). We showcased this perspective by looking at the ACDB data collection, with particular interest in the ways in which it reflects the community’s interests, curatorial decisions, and the changes these undergo.
The presentation was well-received and followed by an intense discussion with researchers from diverse fields, which was exciting as it drew our attention to fantastic research initiatives in neighboring fields and institutions, such as the digital humanities initiative of the National Institute for the Humanities, represented by Tamako Kitaoka at the EAJS, and the metadata research Kathryn Ibata-Arens does on biomedical innovation. This helped support our hope that the concept of datascapes might be relevant beyond our immediate focus.
Overall, the conference was a great opportunity to hear about a wide range of research focusing on the Japan area and related questions, to catch up with colleagues from Europe, and to get to know Tohoku University.